I am in Building 89, a large, multi-use recreation center known to me in my childhood (films were shown here). A performance event is to take place and there’s a fairly big crowd sitting in rows of folding chairs, and a few persons in the bleachers on the sides.

The event begins as the Great Artist appears on the stage. The singing and music are lesser components than the movements and multi-media elements. I do recognize right away that the central figure is John Lennon. The performance is designed so that it will take a while for the audience to pull together the gestalt and recognize the Great Star amongst all the elements and devices. This is to allow some creative options it would seem, given the premier paradox that he is both alive and dead.

As the performance progresses various elements appear at locations in a full-dimensional use of the space. Little dolls suddenly rise up here and there, all around, dolls of the sort that are set up in rows to be knocked over in carnival arcades. Each of these blank dolls is brought to life with a distinct, dazzling laser projection of a highly expressive talking face. I am aware of the freedom to move around amongst the dolls and all other production elements. There are no barriers restricting movement toward the stage.

Suddenly I realize that the crowd has disappeared with all the chairs also, allowing even more freedom of movement and involvement. I wonder, “Where did everybody go?” Yet this just seems to be a quick-cut in the continuity, which allows for a deepening and thickening of the art form as it becomes more complexly interwoven and dramatic. There are a few of us devotees who remain and who actively engage various vantage points and intensifying options.